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Effective Response by Baseball to Mitchell Report Extremely Difficult, Two Professors Say

Now that the Mitchell Report had documented the pervasive use of drugs in baseball, "fashioning a response that is effective and fair, and not just a politically expedient reaction to a political problem, will be much harder," said a Duke University law professor. "The recommendation for more extensive and independent drug testing is a useful first step, but it is well to remember that at the current level of sophistication testing can be defeated by sophisticated dopers," said Paul Haagen, a sports law expert. "Whatever system is put in place needs to be fair to the athletes as well as effective as a general deterrent."

Orin Starn, a Duke professor of cultural anthropology, said it is hard to judge how baseball fans will react to the Mitchell Report.

"It's one thing when those accused of cheating play for the other team, but now stars from around the league are under suspicion. Expressions of contrition have sometimes been enough, as evidence in the New York Yankee fans forgiving Jason Giambi for his quasi-admission of steroid use. It's possible to imagine, however, that we'll reach a tipping point where fans will no longer tolerate cheating in the game. The Mitchell Report may move things closer to that point."

Starn, who studies sports and society, said he expects the Mitchell Report to have a ripple effect throughout the sports world.

"It's no surprise that athletes will do anything possible to raise their performance levels, given the astronomical contracts that top sports stars can earn. Many observers suspect that other major American sports -- especially professional football -- have far more use of performance-enhancing drugs than the occasional, hush-hush suspension suggests. Even the staid PGA golf tour will institute drug testing this year.

"Even if the will to address the problem coalesces at last, the challenge of monitoring remains difficult. The Mitchell Report focuses on steroid use, but recent evidence suggests that human growth hormone has been even more important in recent cheating. The coming thing for cheating is gene therapy, for which no tests at all yet exists. There will always be a cat-and-mouse game with those seeking to keep sports clean trying to develop new tests to catch the latest cheating methods."

Haagen said much of the discussion that predictably will follow the release of the Mitchell Report will be about who is to blame: "the athletes who took the substances, the union which protected them or Major League Baseball, which did too little to deal with the problem. Much of the discussion also will be about whether fans have been turned off or betrayed or have lost their innocence.

"Each of those discussions has their merits, but the real issue facing baseball and all of sport is how to develop a fair and credible response to doping, and to permit athletes to succeed without engaging in the Faustian bargain of taking substances that will or may destroy their health. This is by no means an easy task."